GENDER ISSUES IN THE LEARNING OF ARCHITECTURE IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Prompted by previous findings of research on gender issues in different schools of architecture and based on the indicated lack of knowledge of the lives of women in developing nations, this thesis investigated gender issues in learning architecture. The in-depth study required for such a study prompted a study of students in Private universities in Ogun State, Nigeria. In this study, gender characteristics of the students, their learning patterns, experiences, performance and aspirations were investigated in relation to gender differences and inequalities. Employing a critical method of inquiry common to feminist works, quantitative and qualitative data were both collected from second to sixth year students in all the three private universities. Relevant data gathered through in-depth interviews, written perceptions of students and ethnographic observations carried out over a period of three academic sessions (2013/2014- 2015/2016) were analysed using parametric and non-parametric tests and content analysis. Findings show that the student population structure in the departments sampled was skewed or tilted in favour of the males and androgynous. Also, there were gender and gender identity differences as well as inequalities in the learning patterns and schema of some schools indicating that most male and masculine students did not need to exert as much effort as the females or feminine while carrying out different types of learning tasks. Overall, the female students were generally found to attain significantly higher academic achievements except in the design studio. Finally, it was found that for most females, irrespective of their academic achievement, their career aspirations were greatly restricted by their gender and their more challenging learning experience. The main implication of the findings is that in Nigeria, despite social changes, gender still significantly influences the learning of architecture. Recommendations were that stakeholders in architectural education should take deliberate restructuring steps to ensure that the skewed gender composition in the higher ranks of mainstream architecture either in education or practice will not remain skewed in favour of the males with only the lower ranks at best attaining a tilted composition

Pedagogic Tenets of Specification Writing in Architectural Education, Construction and Practice

Specification writing is an important aspect of architectural curriculum; as failure of the architect to write an effective specification in educational training and construction-practice may lead to unpalatable factors. This study explored couple of methods employed in the teaching, learning and assessment of specification writing students in architecture department, Covenant University, South-West Nigeria, with a view to identifying the most effective method within the group dynamics. The methodology adopted for this study involved the interview of M.Sc. II architecture students and adoption of two (2) basic pedagogic methods namely Traditional and Revolutionary during class sessions. The qualities were evaluated and assessed through the outcome of students' assignments, standard performance tests and examinations results, and documentations in brainstorming-interactive class sessions. It was found that there were significant differences between the performance scores of students using diverse pedagogic methods. It recommended that further research capable of bridging education and construction- practice in synergy

Besides Zaha or Adenowo: Investigating the Visibility Status of Female Architects as Role Models for Students of Architectu

Recent glimpses and revelations from the education and practice of architectural profession suggested that the visibility status of Female Architects as role models for students under tutelage is still hazy [1]. Highly worthy of note is that increasing numbers of female students are enrolled into architecture programs on a yearly basis but when juxtaposed with the high rate of attrition recorded at the point of exit from Nigerian universities, it significantly varies. As stated by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations, the fifth objective is to ensure the attainment of gender equality among people in the societies of the world [2]. This paper investigated and reported the findings of a study on the visibility status of female architects as role models for architecture students. Using a sample of 378 (101 females and 277 males) students drawn from 3 private universities in South-west Nigeria, a survey was carried out to find out how visible female architects were as role models to students of architecture. The data were analysed using univariate analysis like proportions and percentages and results were presented in tables. Findings indicated that only 2 female architects popularised by media were cited as role models by more than half of the respondents indicating poor or hazy visibility of other successful women in the field. This paper recommended that pragmatic steps should be taken by stakeholders of the architecture profession at different levels using the more effective visibility windows of media to showcase the high-stake achievements and personalities of successful female architects as role models to inspire both the female architects in practice and same categories under tutelage

Housing quality and its predictors in public residential estates in Lagos, Nigeria.

Improving access to good quality and sustainable housing environment for residents’ in urban areas in the developing world has been engaging the attention of housing scholars, researchers and developers. Consequently, the extent to which government-constructed residential estates in urban areas are providing residents with good quality housing environment has been investigated in many cities in developing countries. However, in a rapidly growing megacity like Lagos, Nigeria, the situation has not been adequately investigated. This study relied on data collected via a questionnaire survey of 379 residents to investigate housing quality (HQ) and its predictors in 15 government-constructed residential estates in Lagos State, Nigeria. The outcomes of descriptive statistics and categorical regression analyses (CATREG) show that over 50% of the respondents in the survey perceived the buildings and their neighbourhood environments and the overall quality of housing to be good. Around 66% of the variance in R2 was explained by the regression model, with adequacy of housing units’ characteristics, type of housing, level of security in the estates and state of repairs of the buildings emerging as the top four predictors of HQ. This study is very instructive by revealing that in order to achieve improved quality of housing environment in government residential estates, public housing developers should give adequate attention to the design and construction of dwelling units, the right mix of housing types, security of lives and property and the use of easily maintainable building materials in the development of such schemes in urban areas in Nigeria. Keywords Housing quality · Public housing · Residential estates · Questionnaire survey · Lagos Stat